Noida: Parents of missing children anxious

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Last updated on: December 30, 2006 00:27 IST

Wailing parents of children who went missing in the last two years rushed to Nithari village with photographs of their children as word spread that skeletons of some children had been found from a drain behind house No. D-4 in the village.

Surender alias Satish admitted killing six children and 20-year-old Payal after having sexually assaulted them.

"Yeh policewalen paise walon se mile huien hain. Agar inno neh Satish ko chodda na hota to aaj hamare bache jinda hote," (These cops are hand in glove with the rich. If they hadn't let off Satish, our children would have been alive today) cried an old woman as she held out the picture of her son in front of TV cameras. Others followed her and soon there was a cry for an independent and impartial probe.

"We found the bodies of the children and now the police is claiming credit for it. A doctor who was earlier arrested in a kidney racket lives next door, and there is a passage between the two houses. It is possible that he is also involved in it, and there is a strong possibility of missing children being killed for their kidneys," alleged one resident by the name of Ram Chander.

But police officials dismissed the claims of the people. "It is their anger, which is making them say all these things. We were following the case of one call girl by the name Payal whose mobile phone was lost. Since her phone was being tapped, we tracked down the instrument with Satish. He told us that the mobile phone was given to him by Payal herself. Payal used to visit the residence of Mohinder Singh Pandher, a businessman. Pandher loves women," alleged a senior ranking officer of Noida police.

The police also denied that 15 bodies had been found. "This is not true. We found bones, skulls and other parts of the bodies. So it is not possible to give any figure. We can identify only through DNA tests the true identity of the missing and murdered children," the officer said.

While the people claimed that if the police had not let off Satish six months back when he was arrested in a case, some of the children might have escaped his lust. "He used to sexually assault the children and then kill them," a junior officer claimed.

The police have sealed the house, and refused to let mediapersons anywhere near the scene of crime.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh police raided Pandher's residence in Sector 27, Chandigarh, and questioned his wife and son for almost one hour.

Before leaving the place, they left behind two guards to keep an eye on Mrs Pandher and members of her family.